Archie Sonic Comic Megathread

This would be a crazy way to end the series. I personally never cared much for the pre-reboot stuff. Too much cringey romance and extended family. Didn't Amy have a cousin who looked exactly like Sonic? Creepy. However, the way they pruned and reintroduced characters and the world in this reboot is good. I'd love to get a tradeback of the the whole last arc, and I don't really buy comics that often in general. If this is truly the way it ends, Ian and Aleah should write the games. The Happy Tree Friends guys are just not cutting it.

 

You mean Rob o' the Hedge?

I do hope the comic isn't ending. If it is, Penders can go to hell

 

I'm doubting Penders is the problem here and it's likely Archie trying to recoup money they lost from that failed Kickstarter by dropping series as well as possibly doing some "core brand strengthening" due to Riverdale on CW being a thing (and possibly something else they started throwing money towards without realizing the consequences). Either way it's not going to end well, and I'm pretty disappointed in them (and obviously Penders if it really is the case) because after Mega Man being canceled along with seemingly any future trades I've started to wonder if they just don't care about licenses now and want to focus on their main brand instead. Not very good business decisions being made on their behalf.

Hopefully Ian et al aren't out of a job for long and some other publisher (IDW please) can get Sonic back.

 

Wow, even that article is saying maybe IDW would get it. Great minds think alike.

 

IDW would be a perfect fit. They treat licensed comics right, they employ some Sonic comic staff already as freelancers, they could open doors for some really fun crossovers, and they even publish trade paperbacks of Archie Adventure Series comics. Should Archie still retain any rights to Sonic, they would likely do a similar deal to what they have going with IDW (and by extension Nickelodeon) with the TMNT comics. IDW publishes Sonic back issues in trade form and Archie gets a cut.

Personally, I think the series should go to IDW and they should make an ongoing classic Sonic series and an ongoing modern Sonic series. Have the classic series take place between Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure and have Flynn write and bring on Heese as the lead artist. Have it skew largely SEGASONIC but still have some Archie Sonic reboot stuff slipped in, should they get the rights to the characters. The modern Sonic series could pick up from where Archie ended, numbering and all. They could then do the occasional crossovers with time travel or events from the past affecting events in the present. Drop the Sonic Universe line.

 

IDW in general would be fantastic for both Sonic and Mega Man. The quality of the comics has had more to do with the people working on it than the actual publisher, who has time and time again been questionable at best with the stewardship of its licensed franchises. IDW, on the other hand...

Plus crossovers with Ninja Turtles, Transformers and the like would be a nice added bonus. Mega Man X and Optimus Prime sitting down to chat about the nature of robotics and organics and the pursuit of peace? Sign me the fuck up.

 

I'd be okay with IDW Mega Man as well, it'd be funny too since that'd not be the first time IDW got a property Dreamwave once owned...

 

All I hope is, if Sonic is really just moving publishers instead of Sega outright just not having a Sonic comic at all, that Ian Flynn and Tyson Hesse migrate with it. They're not Archie employees, they're freelance contractors, so it would cause no problems for a new publisher to take them with it.

I can't even imagine the kinds of great things Flynn could pull off if he didn't have to reboot everything he's worked hard to build every couple of years because the publisher couldn't get their act together with troublesome previous employees.

 

Ian's already working for IDW, so if they shifted there he'd at least be on board.

 

If the comic is truly ending then that's really sad. The Archie comic is what got me into Sonic in the first place. Hopefully it can get picked up by someone else and continue elsewhere.

 

Developments.

Diana Skelly came on and basically said while she doesn't know whats going on and probably won't be told until last second, nothing seems to be pointing towards a cancellation last she checked.

Also the rep that was talked to earlier has changed her tone, from a "definitely canceled" to "it's just temporarily off the site, is all."

Also, Sonic Universe #95 has been pushed back by two weeks. And Sonic #291 has been pushed back by a month.

 

Honestly, maybe it should just die? I haven't read the comics in years. But the story is so convoluted now due to Penders' awful characters and stories, Penders' suit resulting in a reboot of sorts, etc. The comic has had a good run.

Again, I haven't read in years, so feel free to hate me.

Edit: I feel like ideally, Archie Sonic would be cancelled and a new comic, with a clean slate, could start. It would be great to have Ian, Spaz, and co involved in this hypothetical comic.

 

We did get a clean slate though, thats what the #252 reboot is! its just that fucking number, Ian wanted it reset but the old editor wouldn't let him.

 

Oh boy thats interesting.

Honestly the comic's kinda been a hit and miss shitshow lately with a comic either being a fun romp/read or a goddamn advertisement for the next comic (the first Chu-nan comic can go fuck itself). I don't want it to end though because there's a lot of creativity, but it feels either terribly mismanaged in some places or just fucking boring altogether. To me the highlights of the comic were really when flynn was adapting Penders' old work and turning it into somethijg engaging rather than all this pressure to set up his own entire cast/lineup, make the story "Sonic Unleashed except not" or in some cases "with lots of unneeded exposition."

That said, I almost ALWAYS enjoy Universe, and the Fighters arc was AWESOME. The stories actually feel fun and focused on being their own thing rather than "WE HAVE TO EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT." It also helps that those issues have/had my personal favorite artists working on it, with Skelly on Fighters and Yardley(!) on Universe. Universe also seems to have a monopoly on Herms' coloring right now, and honestly his style is what I consider quitissential Comic Sonic. Not to discredit the rest of the team at all, but the comic suffers from a lot of consistency issues at this point when it previously did a great job of building a style after years of garbage.

This just tells me the comic really shines when it keeps the focus small scale. The bigger they tackle issues, the worse their stories become. Worlds Collide was incredibly fun, Worlds Unite was a hot mess. The King Nagus and Mecha Sally material was enjoyable and intense, while "freedom fighters fly in to save the day again" isnt exactly... fun.

Also tbh I miss old Antoine and Rotors' designs. Antoine's color palette and general look was a nice element to the cast. Idk why but he looks kinda derp now. Rotor is too damn sleek honestly. The old man element wasnt a bad one either.

All in all, I feel this comic needs to just get its grand terror bullshit over with already. I don't want it to *end* so suddenly but rather shift publishers if Archie's looking to capsize. When this comic's good, it's really REALLY good. Nowadays, at its worst, it's simply "meh" with pretty good art.

 

I didn't even know they were redesigned. I looked them up and I ... really don't like the redesigns.